Trait switching! zomg!
I was excited about the Clockwork City DLC from go, because – well, you’ve met me. The huge TES: Morrowind geek is excited about getting to see more of Sotha Sil’s clockwork city, what a shock, right? To be fair, if you’ve been inside the Halls of Fabrication trial, or finished the Morrowind chapter’s main quest, then you know how potentially cool this is.
But let’s set aside the fun of getting to hang with Divayth Fyr and kill fabricants again, and talk for a second about this other upcoming change mentioned in the press release: trait switching.
Yeah, that’s right, you heard me. Switching traits on gear that’s already made. Cue the choir of angels bursting into song…
The Clockwork City DLC game pack and Update 16 also introduce the all-new Transmutation system, allowing you to change the traits on your gear, including weapons and armors.
In order to Transmute an item, you must locate a Transmutation station and have the item trait researched in your crafting Skill Line. This means if you’d like to add the Sharpened trait to your dagger, you must first ensure you have the ability to craft daggers with that trait. You’ll be able to find a Transmutation station in the heart of the Brass Fortress within the Clockwork City or acquire one for your home from a certain Master Writ merchant.
In addition to the crafting skill requirement, Transmutation requires a special new resource called Transmutation Crystals that you’ll need to collect and save. You’ll be able to earn Transmutation Crystals by completing veteran level content (such as Veteran Mode Dungeons or Trials).
That changes the end-game grind entirely. I never expected to see this, not at all. The devs have said in live stream chats they intend to implement jewelry crafting at some point. I’ve wished for that, but I wasn’t sure we’d ever get the ability to improve dropped jewelry, and sort of assumed it wouldn’t happen, since it would change/diminish the end-game grind. But being able to switch traits on gear has an even greater impact on that than improving jewelry would.
I’m a happy, happy Zells. Now lets hope those “Transmutation Crystals” aren’t harder to get than, say, a sharpened vMA Inferno staff. :p I know the TCs are not going to be easy, and it almost certainly will be true that they’ll come in fragments that have to be assembled into a full crystal. Or possibly they’ll be rare drops in vet mode. But some vet dungeons are way easier than others, and some I really find fun. I’m okay with running a dungeon multiple times to get the crystals, if it’s one my friends and I can enjoy and not, say, vCoA2. As a purely random example.
Sweet Divines, the gear I’ve decon’d and now wish I had back. Not sure how to approach grinding at this point. Do I just keep one of everything until CWC drops? Decisions, decisions.
No release date yet; all announcements say Fall. <fidgets impatiently>
Letters From Tamriel 